AN: Methinks I should stop making promises about update schedules when I clearly have no intention to adhere to them. X'D
I've been recently re-reading (or re-listening?) the books and my love for harry potter has me unable to go for long without typing more of this story. I truly do love these books with all my damn heart.
The letter had arrived a single week before the first of September. Marlene McKinnon was one of those that Adeline called a close friend. Her letter had been duly expected, but the contents of the letter had not been to say the least.
In truth, Adeline hated reading it, but could not stop herself from absorbing its contents over and over, to ensure she hadn't been dreaming the first time she'd opened it.
She didn't know what to feel at first, but it was undeniable that she thirsted for an in-person recount of the events from the young lady herself. She had to have been mistaken. There had to be an explanation that surely would have made perfect sense. The Bertram she'd grown to love over the years would never do anything like the contents of McKinnon's letter had suggested.
Though she stubbornly remained positive, in the recesses of her mind she could sense the letter undoing the threads of trust they had sewn. The seeds of doubt spread like drops of ink sinking into parchment, dark and gaping. Try as she might to not stare into the depths of those black holes, she couldn't shake the clenching feeling in her gut. With all her might, she prayed that Marlene was wrong.
She tried to keep her mind empty, as she gripped her trolly, steering it forward at a steady pace toward the train. There was an uncomfortable lack of emotion upon her face, as she pushed through the crowds of students and parents. She had already bid her mother farewell, as she'd been late for her work at the office; therefore she hadn't been able to stay long enough to give her a proper send-off. Not that she really minded.
Careful to keep an eye out for Bertram, the moment she spotted him she swerved her trolly to the left in order to give the boy a wide berth. They never really made a fuss about seeing each other on the platform, so it wasn't that strange for her to not seek him out. It was typical that they would share a compartment, but on occasion they organized otherwise, so they didn't mind meeting for the first time after holidays at Hogwarts- or wherever their paths happened to cross.
She'd already thought it out and had sent him a letter three days earlier to inform him she'd be sitting with her friends this time. There was some very exciting and important girl talk to be had. Privately of course.
She had vomited, the moment she'd sent the letter. Lying was not her forte.
Like magnets being drawn together, from across the platform, Marlene and Adeline's sights locked. The tense few moments that existed in the steps that it took to reach each other were almost unbearable for the two girls.
The moment she was close enough, Marlene stopped dead in her tracks. She opened her mouth to speak, but Adeline threw her arms around the girl, quickly whispering in her ear, "Not here."
From over her shoulder, Marlene looked worried but muttered back in agreement. She held tight to her for a second longer, gripping fistfuls of Adeline's checkered jacket. "Are you angry with me?"
Adeline drew back, shaking her head. She spoke with a tense look on her face, but tried her best to convey reassurance in her voice, "Of course not." Marlene did not look convinced, her usually plump red cheeks sunken and pale.
She tilted her head toward the train, "Let's go find a compartment. We can talk there."
The auburn head nodded stiffly, sniffing as she followed Adeline's trolly toward one of the entry points. Brilliant as ever, the scarlet train gleamed under the sunlight, winking at any who gazed upon it.
The two girls hauled their trunks onto the train, shuffling through the crowded hallway as quickly as possible. Adeline ducked her head into each compartment, checking for an empty place for them both, muttering apologies as she went for interrupting various conversations in her search.
At last, the Gryffindors found a bare compartment, and at once they slipped inside, sliding the door shut firmly behind them. Immediately the ruckus of the platform was silenced, the small seating area growing unnervingly quiet. The awaiting conversation hung in the air like spiders webs. Threads cascaded everywhere, the girls avoided speaking as they helped each other silently stow away their trunks in the overhanging storage compartments.
With stiff movements, they each sat across from each other- staring at anything but each other. Though only faintly audible through the door, the outside world went on completely oblivious to the tense atmosphere that hung between them. Adeline quite seriously debated jumping out the window.
"I'm really not angry," Adeline repeated her earlier statement. In all honesty, she wasn't angry in the slightest- least not with Marlene. If she was angry with anyone, it would naturally be with Bertram- but she couldn't say she was angry with him either. Not with any certainty. She did, however, feel slightly nauseous.
Marlene's large doe-like eyes appraised her with uncertainty. "You… you didn't respond to my letter…?" It was a statement and a question.
Adeline chewed the edge of her lip, looking away from her friend's gaze. She picked her fingernails, "I know… It was just so- so confusing? I don't know. I didn't know how to respond." She looked up at her, "I wrote several letters but… none of them seemed good enough."
The uneasiness seemed to ease a little in her face as Marlene replied, "That's understandable. You had every right not to respond- it just worried me that's all. The lack of response." The teenager gave a weak smile, "You're usually so quick to reply to my letters."
Adeline didn't smile, and responded with earnest, "I'm sorry, I should have at least mailed something. I should have told you we would talk when we get back."
Marlene shook her head fiercely, "No, don't apologize. You of all people don't need to."
Adeline really did chuckle, an affectionate smile on her lips, "Neither do you, so let's just drop it alright?"
Marlene huffed, her ears tipped pink. "Just this once then."
The girls shared kind smiles, the kind that only were reserved for the fondest of friends. Steadily, the smiles faded. It was like a dementor had entered the compartment- all joy and sense of comradery was sucked from the room. Replaced only with dread and sickness.
Adeline breathed, "Tell me exactly what happened." Her posture tensed, legs tightly tucked together, shoulders bunched up to her ears, lips pressed into a thin line. She braced herself.
Marlene leant back, slouching down into the seat. She started, "We were celebrating my Nan's 80th at the Mystical Meaderie. It was sort of difficult to talk because there was this big table right beside us with lots of people at it."
'I didn't want to keep watching- but they were so loud, I couldn't not overhear them even if I didn't see them anymore.'
Adeline recalled Marlene's letter word for word, and as she spoke, couldn't help but recite it in her head.
"- and It's a big place so I didn't see Bertram until I got up to go to the toilet."
She almost didn't need to listen to Marlene anymore. She knew the story, and none of the details had changed since she'd read the letter a hundred times over- in truth, she didn't know what she had hoped to accomplish by having Marlene tell her again.
Adeline had already dismissed the possibility that the girl had been lying. Marlene had been her friend since the first year. Yes, they hadn't gotten close until third year, but time and time again Marlene proved herself to be a trustworthy and reliable best friend. There was no possibility in Adeline's mind that she'd sent that letter for her own self-gain.
'I don't know who the damn girl was, but she and Bertram were sitting together. He was holding her hand.'
Though she supposed there was something to gain by the separation for others, she also highly suspected that Marlene was still utterly head over heels in love with Sirius Black.
She returned her attention to Marlene as the girl continued, "and then his father stood up to make an announcement." Adeline's heart clapped like thunder- she visibly winced from the pain.
"He-he said that Bertram and Cathy's wedding would be-"
The two girls jumped with such force they both simultaneously banged their heads against the low hanging storage compartments. The familiar faces of Sirius Black and James Potter had flung open the sliding doors with such little grace that the force had caused a loud crash against the doorframe.
Seemingly completely unaware of the conversation he had so rudely interrupted, Potter cheerily sang, "Ello girls! Mind if we sit?"
Adeline's temper flared dangerously short. She jumped up, blocking the way as the boys made to enter the compartment, and threw her arms up to the sides of the door with yet another slam!
She spat, "No. You are not welcome here at this time Potter. Kindly piss off and find another compartment!"
So shocked at her venomous tone that they had bumped into each other, staring at her with baffled expressions. At the same time that Sirius had asked what had her knickers in a knot, Potter threw his hands up in defence, "Blimey! Easy there now Pevrette-"
Marlene lept up to stand beside her as Adeline's grip on the doors grew tight. She placed her hands around the girls shoulders and drew her back gently as she interjected, "Uh sorry boys, we're kind of in the middle of something private."
So enthralled in their own world, the two girls had barely noticed the Hogwarts express had left the station. Stray students whom hadn't found a compartment yet filed along the hall, checking for empty compartments and searching for familiar faces.
Chugging along, the world outside the window streamed passed them unnoticed. At the door, Adeline watched the boys' eyes curiously flick between them both, albeit they appeared much warier of her than anything else. Certainly, they were taken aback by the usually sweet girls outburst of sudden hostility.
The blonde girl looked away, her temper dying down as her friend put space between them. As quickly as her fury had appeared it was gone, and she now felt sick as she stared blankly out the window.
Potter reached back to tap Black's forearm, "Right, got it! Sorry about that then uh- we'll leave you to it!"
Black grumbled, "Bloody oath we will." The boy scooted off before Potter had even said goodbye, leaving him to apologize once more before skipping off to catch up to his friend in search of another compartment.
No sooner had he left had Marlene turned on her heel after shutting the door. She looked appallingly at her friend, thin brows arched in apparent surprise. "Not angry at all hm?"
Adeline didn't respond, but there was a downward tug of her facial expression. Marlene recognized the slow twisting of her facial expression, and upon instinct slipped an arm around her friend's shoulders, sliding into the seat beside her.
She took in a loud shaky breath, looking up toward the ceiling to blink away the fat tears in her eyes. Realising it was useless to try and stop them, she lowered her head and let them fall. Marlene anchored her, encouraging her to sink back into the curve of the seat. Adeline brought her legs up, and buried the sockets of her eyes into the curves of her knees as she began to sob, wrapping her arms tightly around her legs.
With no other way of helping, Marlene rubbed her shoulders, cuddling as close to her as she could- whispering gentle consoling promises into her ear. Her cheek pressed into Adeline's head, not once did she move, except for the moment the food trolly arrived outside their compartment.
Marlene ignored Adeline's multiple protests, and swiftly purchased a good handful of chocolate frogs for them both to share. As they enjoyed the comfort food, the Pevrette quietly handed the cards to Marlene, who's little brother she passingly remembered adored collecting them.
As hours passed, the Gryffindors slowly worked up the courage to begin chatting about other subjects- topics that weren't as emotionally draining as the possibility of a disloyal boyfriend. Marlene told of Lily's visits and how the girls had spent hours going through her wardrobe stock. They absolutely had to visit Gladrags Wizardwear next Hogsmede visit.
Adeline had cracked a grin at the prospect, commenting on how she wouldn't mind yet another good visit. She hadn't expanded her sock collection in quite a while now, so she was overdue for some new additions.
Once she'd calmed herself down enough, the guilt started to sink in as she thought about her outburst. While she wasn't overly fond of the pair, neither Potter or Black had deserved her yelling- no matter how rude they had been for bursting in without an invitation.
That was quite simply, the very nature of them both. Rude, unexpected, not always welcome and yet at all times- habitually loud and sprightly.
She left two untouched chocolate frogs aside. A peace offering to pair an apology she amended. She'd rather not be on their prank list this year. She had enough to deal with without adding those two to the list.
From her observations, Remus seemed to realise very early on that feeding them chocolate seemed to somewhat soften them. Adeline hoped it would work for her too.
As the Hogwarts Express rolled closer to the station, Adeline finally brought it up again.
"Marlene, what am I going to do?" She whimpered. The blonde-haired girl could still taste the salt from her tears on her lips.
Her best friend appeared just as unsure as she did- unlike herself, Marlene had only had two relationships, and neither had lasted more than six months. Though on both occasions, the separation had been due to in-compatibility, not infidelity.
But she was most certainly a sensible girl- even if she'd been one of the girls who'd originally been disappointed by the lack of dramatic romance in their younger years.
"You have to talk to him Addy- you know you do." Adeline closed her eyes, and sighed- a painful expression on her face. She really didn't want to, but quite frankly, she didn't know what else to do. She'd never be able to ignore it, but a part of her still nagged- maybe she's wrong. Maybe she saw someone else- maybe it was another boy with the same name.
She took in a deep breath, "Can you…" she looked into her eyes, "Could you be there- with me? When I talk to him. I don't think I could do it on my own…"
Marlene considered it carefully, clearly hesitating. "This is really something I think you ought to speak with him on your own about, but-" Adeline looked pleadingly at her. "But I'm always going to be here to support you. So of course I'll come with you."
Adeline reached her arms around the girl again, holding her tight and whispering words of gratitude. They pulled back, and realising they were about to pull into the station, hurried to fetch their robes, changing as quickly as they could to avoid starting the term with points docked from Gryffindor.
Usually, she liked to wait until the hustle and bustle to get off the train had died down before getting off- that way she didn't have to shove and push her way around. She'd learnt from the first and second year that it was always better to wait a moment before leaving the compartment.
The girls waited several moments before tidying their appearances and setting off. They were greeted by a gentle breeze once they stepped off the Express, and immediately the two hurried off to find a carriage.
Arm in arm, Adeline jerked back on her friend's arm as a flash of shaggy black hair and glasses passed by. She fished out the remaining chocolate frogs from the pockets of her robes, yelling out, "Oi Potter! Black!"
Having been joined by Peter Pettigrew, the boys stopped in their tracks, heads all swivelling to find the source of her voice. Marlene looked confused as she dragged her toward the boys, who were shuffling a little awkwardly as they waited.
Adeline stopped a few feet away and spoke, "Catch." She tossed the frogs one by one, not really surprised they both caught them with such ease.
The boys, already cottoning on to her apology, looked down at the free sweets with mildly pleased expressions as she said, "Sorry 'bout before. Caught me at a very bad time." She gave them a wide grin.
Peter made a disgruntled noise, "Where's mine?"
They ignored the boy, as Potter and Black glanced at each other. They shrugged with nonchalant expressions. Potter tipped his head toward her, "Eh no hard feelings ladies, we'll just remember to knock next time." He gave them a signature cheeky grin and wink that surely would have made most girls melt.
The two however, merely shook their heads and rolled their eyes as they turned away. Adeline shouted over her shoulder, "Oh and by the way, welcome back fellas!"
There was a distant response, but they both ignored it, stepping up onto a carriage with a few more Hufflepuff girls.
AN: I have no idea when I'll be posting again, so for now, please review if you have the time. It truly does help keep me motivated, and I always respond!
I'd like to say a BIG thank you to those who followed and favourite this story, I truly do appreciate you all and hope you enjoy this new chapter.
And to my lovely first reviewer, KiranKiranKom: Thank you so much for the review and the compliments, I really am happy you like my writing and that you found the prologue to be refreshing! I hope this chapter was just as refreshing to read! Thank you very much again. :D